Changing Tides
by gabrielleizzy45
Summary: A crossover with Broadchurch. An AU look at what happens in Rose Tyler who had never met the Doctor met Alec Hardy! With the seaside town as a backdrop and two people trying to get their lives together, will they find each other? Or will they despise each other?
1. Beginnings

**Wow...I just can't stop all these stupid ideas! I have to write this, so here it is! A little different from my rest. **

**This story is completely AU and is a crossover with Broadchurch. Rose and Alec Hardy story basically. **

**Let me know if you have any questions!**

The Beginning

Alec Hardy let out a loud sigh as he slammed his head back against his pillow. It wasn't fair. Only four hours after his surgery to get his pacemaker put in and he was stressed. And that was precisely what the doctor's had been warning him against.

Thankfully, his surgery had been successful and they expected him to recover quickly. Despite how reluctant he was to actually consent to the surgery, he was thankful now that he had gone through with it. Already he felt loads better, even if he was still stuck in the bloody hospital.

"How are you doing?" came a familiar voice behind him and he shifted his position a bit to see Ellie Thomson (previously Miller) walk into the room. As promised, she had come to visit him after his surgery and, even though he didn't want her to come, it was nice to see a familiar face. After her husband Joe had been the one to kill Danny Latimer she had fled Broadchurch with her two boys for a few months. However, she had returned just last week. Her whole life was here and it was her kid's home too, despite all the terrible things that had happened there. So, she had returned to her old job with the police with a brand new house on the other side of town.

"Fine," Alec growled out in annoyance, wishing that hospitals weren't so dismal. "Ready to go back to work soon," he reasoned, even though he knew that wasn't the case.

"You got to heal first," Ellie answered quickly, coming over to sit next to his bed. Even though they had obviously hated each other at first, they were now good friends. After her husband was arrested Alec had been there to help her. The day after she left town he had shown up. For a whole week he basically watched the kids and made sure Ellie had everything that she needed. Even after he reluctantly went back to Broadchurch, he still checked up on them quite often.

Alec didn't respond, just continued to glare at the clock on the wall. That wretched thing. He would have to watch it circle around two full times before this dreadful day was over. And then he would be able to return to work soon and wouldn't have so much time to think about his life anymore.

After the Latimer case was closed and the truth about his wife's interference with his failed case, he had thought things would get better. And, for a few days, they did. His daughter Madison had called him for the first time in months, telling him that she knew. Still, she wanted to stay with her mother and her new boyfriend Phil. That hadn't surprised Alec in the slightest, but he had expected to hear something more from her. When she was younger Madison had been a daddy's girl, always turning her big, brown eyes to him to get her way. But when teenage years hit and her father was strict about her not dating boys who could drive when she was thirteen they had a big fight. Her mother had stuck up for her and from then on she rarely interacted with her father at all.

Still, it was like another knife in his heart today. Madison had called him a few hours after the surgery. Of course she knew about it, but had not made many comments about it in the past. Upon answering and hearing it was her father, she had quickly explained that her mother had made her call him to make sure he was still alive and promptly hung up.

So, here he was, still stuck in Broadchurch.

…

Rose Marion Tyler was sick of the Powell Estates. She had lived there the first twenty years of her life, and here she was, twenty six years old, living with her Mum again. Her dad had died when she was a baby in a car accident and she loved her mum, but it wasn't enough for her.

In all honesty, she was in a rut. When she was sixteen she had run off with the jerk Jimmy Stone and dropped out of school. She realized a year later how horrid he was when she confronted him about cheating and had physically hit her. So, she reluctantly returned back to her mother and got a job in a shop since she never got her A-levels.

That had been fine for a few years, but she thought she would be doing something with her life by now. She had dated Mickey Smith for six years after Jimmy and was living with him until three months ago. Mickey had proposed and, realizing that he wasn't the 'one', she had turned him down and moved out. They had said they would remain friends but judging by the lack of contact that wasn't going to be the case.

The one thing she was happy about was that when she was twenty she had realized she needed to move up in her life. Obviously her mum couldn't help her, so she had to do it herself. From then on, she had been working two jobs and had literally saved every penny. Which is why now, six years later, she had enough money to get her own place. Except she couldn't bear to stay in London and live a life exactly like her mother's cooped up in the Powell Estates for the rest of her life.

So, here she was, sitting on a bus all by herself. All she had with her was a bag of necessities and some extra money. She had no idea where she was going, she just had to start over. See if she could accomplish anything. Once she got settled, she would get the rest of her belongings.

Sending a polite smile to the greasy haired man that had just sat down next to her, Rose stared out the window, watching London leave her behind.

**Oh, and review to tell me if it is worth continuing! **


	2. Meetings

**Thanks to anyone who clicked on this story and read it! I know a lot of people won't be as interested as usual since it is a crossover, so thanks to those of you who are sticking with me. **

**Also, Broadchurch really is a great show and even if you don't read this fic I suggest you watch it!** **(if anything, David Tennant is in it!)**

**Anyhow, I will also be having shorter chapters so the action can move along quicker! So that means more updates and shorter scenes! **

**Read on and hopefully enjoy! **

**P.S. Don't worry, still working on The Day Demons Ran**

Meetings

"You're annoyingly chipper this morning," Alec huffed as Ellie entered his office with a smile plastered on her face and handed him a mug of tea.

"Of course you'd be grumpy about other people around you being happy," Ellie quickly rebuffed, rolling her eyes as she sat on the other side of his desk. "You've only been back for two weeks," she continued as she took a sip of her own tea. "For how much harping you made me go through about staying home after your surgery I thought that you would be pleasant for a few days."

"Did you get laid last night or something?" Alec asked sarcastically as he sat the tea on the edge of his desk and checked his computer. As much as he and Ellie fought, they did really like one another. Still, he was so bored here in Broadchurch. Maybe his so called penance had been paid, but he was still in the same town. Not that he wanted a murder case again, but there was hardly any work to do here besides simple drug busts.

Ellie clicked her tongue before responding. "Not all of us have an option like Becca sitting around at her inn."

Alec pursed his lips, fixing with Ellie with a harsh stare. He was about to respond, but decided the argument wasn't really worth it at the moment. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and waited for a moment. "Well, are you going to tell me or not?"

"I may have found someone to watch the kids," she responded quickly. As of late, she was having an old family friend watch them during the day, but she felt bad about relying on the woman so much. It was hard for her to watch after Fred since he was always running around. Tom had insisted that he was old enough, but Ellie wasn't ready to trust a nearly thirteen year old boy.

"Really, who?" Alec asked, actually seeming a bit interested. "Wait, I know you told me this before," he said mostly to himself. "But were you actually serious about getting someone to live in the house with you?"

"Sometimes I have weird hours at the office and it would be nice for the kids to have someone always there to help them and get used to her," she responded. She had given a lot of thought to this. The last thing she wanted to do was try to replace their father, but they needed more than just she could provide. Plus, her new house was simply too big for the three of them.

Alec nodded, surprisingly holding back so he wouldn't say something offensive. "I suppose that is smart, just seems a little Victorian," he couldn't help but comment. "Do I know her?"

"Maybe, she is staying at Traders right now," she answered, continuing when Alec just gave her a blank stare. "Been here a week or so supposedly, traveled around for a bit before she decided to stop here. Was looking for a job too," she explained quickly, hoping she wasn't jumping the gun. Ever since Danny's death, she had been a bit more hesitant around strangers, but she felt like this woman was harmless. "Her names Rose Tyler and she's from London."

"And you trust her why?" he couldn't help but ask. He was definitely planning on running a background check on this Rose Tyler as well.

"I talked to her for a bit when I ran into her last night," Ellie responded, readjusting her jacket as she spoke. "Seems like a sweet thing who has had a hard time in the past. She's been having trouble finding a job and asked if I knew of anything," she paused, thinking of what to say next. "Of course I will be making sure she gets along with the kids and get to know her better before she moves in."

"Anyway," Alec interrupted, changing the topic. He didn't want to discuss such domestic matters with Ellie all morning. "We got a call last night about a possible suspicious character planning to rob the bookstore," he informed her, getting back into his usual strict demeanor.

…

Rose sat down on her surprisingly comfortable bed, pulling out her laptop. She began searching for job openings in Broadchurch, but once more came up with nothing. Honestly, she wasn't sure what brought her to this town. If she was being truthful, she stopped here because it was cheaper than London and also if she kept on traveling like she had been she wouldn't have any money left.

She had called her mum earlier on that day and explained the situation and, much to her surprise, her mum hadn't said she should come home. When she thought about it, she realized it was most likely because her mother was now used to her boyfriend Howard staying over.

While she was on the computer, she realized she should research the town a bit more. Something about the name rang familiar, but she couldn't remember why. Typing the name into a search engine, her eyes grew wide at what she saw.

"Daniel Latimer," she murmured to herself, vaguely remembering the murder investigation of the eleven year old boy. Her mother had mentioned it a few times, especially after the murderer was caught. It had been one of the investigators husbands.

Squinting a bit at a picture, Rose realized that she recognized the woman, Ellie Miller, from the previous day. She had talked to the woman for quite a bit and thought she was really friendly, but hadn't made the connection to the murder yet.

As if she knew what she was doing, her phone rang. It was Ellie and Rose quickly answered it, wondering if she should tell her what she had found out.

…

Rose was currently in the kitchen of Ellie's house making herself a cup of tea. Ellie had explained her job offer to her and Rose couldn't bear to turn it down. It was the best she could possibly get. Not only was Ellie offering her too much money for her services, but she would get housing for free. And the inn she was staying at was quickly causing her wallet to dwindle.

It would be a week or so until Ellie was comfortable enough to have Rose move in, she just wanted to make sure she got along with the kids before. So tonight was basically a test run of her future job. So far everything had been going quite well. Tom was a bit standoffish, but that was to be common in his age. As for Fred, he was very exuberant of trying to explain things to her in short sentences common for toddlers. She had babysat a lot of kids when she lived at the Estate, so this part wasn't particularly new to her.

The door rang and Rose, knowing Ellie wouldn't hear it from the basement, went to go open it. She hoped it wasn't out of line to answer the door, but pushed the thought away and opened the door.

"Hi," she automatically said before even glancing up to see who it was.

"Who are you?" asked the man standing in the doorway with a heavy Scottish accent. When Rose looked up at him to meet his eyes, apparent realization filled him and an expression clearly saying he wasn't amused filled his face. "Oh, Rose Tyler," he said, shocking Rose that he knew her name.

"How do you know who I am?" she questioned, sure she hadn't seem this man before around town. Of course she knew that this town gossiped, but she didn't think she would be an exciting topic yet.

"I'm DI Alec Hardy," he quickly answered, sticking his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't have to shake her hand. Upon her raised eyebrows and no response, he reluctantly spoke up again. "Are you going to move from the doorway so I can come in?"

Reluctantly taking a step back, he took a step past her before she found her voice again. She couldn't believe such a person existed to grate on her nerves so much within five minutes of meeting him. "Am I in trouble or something?" she asked, not realizing the obvious.

"I work with Ellie," he responded, barely turning his head to look at her. "And supposedly so do you."

"Oh," Rose exclaimed, holding back the urge to hit herself on the head for stupidity. Of course she knew who he was. He worked the case with Ellie and now she could place his scruffy face in the articles she had read. "I was just making tea. Do you want some?" she asked for politeness sake. If he knew Ellie, it was probable she would see him quite often and didn't want to hate each other.

Shaking his head, he basically ignored her question and made his way towards the basement where he heard voices.

Rose scowled at the back of his head where his floppy hair lay, wishing some people would learn their manners. Knowing it wasn't worth worrying over, she sighed and went back to the kitchen to finish up with her tea.

**How was it? Not sure if I am getting the characters personalities right, but am trying my best! **

**Don't worry, next chapter will be more exciting than this one...the introductions are done!**

**So please review and let me know! I also don't know where I am going with this, so feel free to comment!**

**Lots of love, **

**Gabrielle**


	3. Assumptions

**This chapter got away from me...**

**I really need to work on having a plan for the story instead of just writing it and having no idea where I am going with it!**

**Anyhow, enjoy!**

Assumptions

When Rose got back to the basement both the rude detective and Ellie were gone. For that she was thankful, she didn't want that jerk to get the upper hand over her again.

Noticing that the movie was still playing on the television, Rose smiled at Tom and sat next to him, surprised he was even down here watching the movie with his brother. She had assumed that the preteen boy would rather be in his room by himself than watching a Disney movie. Of course, what did she know? She never had a brother growing up and most of the guys she knew hadn't turned out all that great.

Thankfully, before Rose had time to even get over to Fred after he started screaming his head off thanks to his big brother taunting him, Ellie walked back into the room with Alec right behind her. Sending an apologetic glance at Rose, Ellie picked up Fred, who had quieted down, and motioned for Tom to follow her up the stairs to give him a talking to.

Glancing over at Alec who had heavily sat down on the couch that had just been vacated, Rose bit her lip as she wondered if she should begin a conversation. Figuring she may have just gotten off on the wrong foot with him. "Enjoying the movie?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as his gaze stayed on the Disney movie Tangled that she had seen too many times to count.

"It's rubbish," he answered abruptly, not even bothering to look up at her when he spoke. Instead, he just glanced down at his watch and ignored her yet again.

"You don't appreciate the inspiring message of following your dreams, Alec?" Rose sarcastically asked, a tongue in teeth grin appearing when she said his name.

"No, don't call me Alec," he interjected in a solemn tone that Rose could tell meant he wasn't joking. "I don't like first names, especially mine," he explained when Rose raised her eyebrows at his statement. "Like you know your name is Rose, no need for me to remind you. Call me Hardy," he finally finished and awkwardly looked the other direction, as if he hadn't meant to say so much.

Sitting down next to him in the couch, she stared at the cartoon characters on the screen for a moment before speaking up again. "And I'm Tyler?" she stupidly asked. This man was quickly surprising her by how rude he could be.

"Nah, I don't really have to call you anything, you should know when I'm talking to you," he reasoned without looking over at her and conspicuously shifted to sit further away from her. As if she wasn't aware that he wasn't comfortable sitting next to her. "And I really don't think a story about a clearly mentally unstable teenager being led around by a thief is particularly healthy. Especially considering the fact that she has magic hair. Despite all this, she still falls in love with the guy and, no surprise, he loves her too and she gets her parents back all in one day."

"Do you really have to be cynical about everything?" Rose asked, quite exasperated as she turned to face him.

Not bothering to glance at her, Alec just kept his eyes on the television. "How can you not be cynical about Disney? It's a load of crap."

"I think you're a load of crap," Rose interrupted. A moment after she said it, she realized how illogical her insult had sounded and her face turned pink.

"That was rude, Rose Tyler," Alec announced, surprising Rose when he used her full name. "I'm not going to ask how much you love this movie."

"A good plan by me," Rose continued, more than a little miffed at this man. "So, will I be having to be around you much with my job at Ellie's?"

Alec finally turned his head to look at her, something of a smile playing on his lips. "Not particularly," he responded, not giving her anything else. Though, judging from his expression, Rose assumed that she was right that this would not be their final and only meeting.

Just as Rose was cooking up a good comeback, Ellie returned down the basement free of children for the moment. "Rose, would you mind looking after Fred upstairs for a moment?" she asked, clearly wanting to speak to Alec alone about something.

After going upstairs and effectively entertaining Fred with some toy cars while she assumed Tom stayed in his room, Rose was trying to think. To understand this strange town of Broadchurch that she had decided to move to. Before she had gotten far in her ponderings, Ellie and Alec had returned. She attempted to read their faces, but was unable to see anything at all. If anything, Ellie just looked worried.

"Bye, Alec," Rose called out, poking her head around the corner when she heard the door open. One thing she was going to do now was to be sure to call him by the first name he despised every time she saw him.

Of course not responding politely, Alec made a huffing noise and nodded in her direction before leaving. Rose contemplated asking Tom if he had ever seen Alec fully smile, but decided against it a moment later.

"He really isn't that bad," Ellie began several minutes later, pulling Rose out of her thoughts. "Alec, I mean," she explained as if Rose didn't have a clue who she was talking about.

"Seems like a lovely bloke, all jokes and chuckles for him," Rose responded, biting her lip after she spoke. Maybe she shouldn't have spoken too soon and made Ellie think she was so rude. When there was several moments of silence, Rose spoke again. "Are you and him…" she asked stupidly.

"Oh, God no," Ellie interrupted, not letting Rose even finish her sentence. "That is the most unlikely pairing ever, that man doesn't have a romantic bone in his body," she continued before looking at Rose with a smirk. "He helps me out and really is a good guy once you get under his rough exterior."

Rose nodded, knowing she had nothing to contribute to this conversation. Instead, she reached for one of Fred's toys and resumed playing with him, aware of Ellie's gaze at her back.

…

A full two weeks of life had gone by and Rose was slowly but surely adjusting to her post at Ellie's. It was rather nice she supposed, having a place to live along with her job. The only real negative was that she never got to see anyone out in public. She had been in Broadchurch for almost a month and didn't have many friends like she did in London.

Deciding she could do something with the day she had off when Ellie was home all day, Rose figured she could go to the beach. Sure, it would be rather chilly, but at least it wasn't raining today. So, throwing on some clothes, Rose headed outside prepared for a long walk.

And she was right, it was a long walk. She wasn't exactly in tip top shape at the moment and hadn't run in months like she used to. By the time she got to the beach she decided that her plan to run had already failed and that she should just walk about and see what was happening instead.

The cold beach really wasn't all that crowded, but there was quite a few people milling around the area. Her eyes automatically flitted to the constant memorial for Danny Latimer that she had yet to visit before she started walking the other direction.

"Rose!" a voice called out rather far behind her. Rose immediately stiffened, pretending like she hadn't heard as she began to walk faster.

Hearing the guy that she had confronted practically every time she left the house, Rose wondered what she should do. The guy, Phil, rather scared her at times. It was as if he knew where she was all the time. At first she thought he was harmless, a lanky redhead with freckles that had a crush on her. However, when she had turned down his rather obvious attempts to ask her out multiple times and hadn't gotten the hint, she began to worry. The last thing she wanted was to be rude to the guy and piss him off, but there was no way she was going on a date with him.

Looking the other direction, Rose let out a breath of relief when she saw a familiar figure and a plan began to form in her mind. It was a little out there, but it was a last ditch attempt.

"You're my boyfriend," Rose hissed to Alec Hardy as she ran up behind him and grabbed onto his arm, praying that he wouldn't disagree and ruin her entire plan. She had only seen him a few times since they met, and his rudeness hadn't left in the slightest. Still, she did know that he wasn't going to blatantly do anything to terrible to her.

"What?" Alec asked, sounding completely dumbfounded as he looked down at Rose with wide eyes. He had just been down on the beach before work and Rose Tyler had come flouncing over and latched onto him.

Looking down, Rose mentally prepared herself for the conversation that was to come. Instead, she just grabbed tighter onto his arm and pulled him with her to the small shelter in the middle of the beach. Rounding the corner so Phil couldn't see them, Rose spoke quickly. "There's this guy who doesn't get that I'm not interested…" she began, realizing she couldn't get the entire story out there in time before he caught up with them. "So sorry about this."

"About what?" Alec asked, about to turn around to see who Rose was talking about when her hands reached up and latched onto his jacket's lapels.

Barely pausing to lick her lips, Rose pulled Alec down towards her, accidently crashing her nose with his. Cursing herself, Rose slowly inched forwards again, surprised when it was Alec who bridged the gap and kissed her.

It was terribly awkward and Rose, with her eyes wide open, was surprised to see that Alec had closed his. A moment later Rose almost let out a gasp of surprise, but was thankfully able to suppress it. Apparently she and Alec didn't have the exact same idea right now. She had assumed they would just share a small peck of a kiss just as Phil walked up to ask her out again, but Alec had other ideas. His lips had been parted when he first kissed her and she could feel his hot breath against her tightly closed lips. She had to remind herself that her lips had to remain closed even when Alec's hand made its way to the small of her back and pulled her closer against himself.

"Oi," Phil called out, rocking back and forth on the heels of his feet when he walked up to see Rose kissing another bloke.

Rose quickly pulled away, thankful that Alec at least had the sense to keep his tongue inside of his own mouth. "Hi," she exclaimed with fake cheerfulness, blindly reaching over and latching onto Alec's hand, slightly surprised that he wasn't at all reluctant to take it.

"I saw you across the beach earlier and was wondering," Phil began to say, completely oblivious of Rose's ploy to get him to realize she wasn't going to date him.

Wondering if this stupid guy didn't realize that she had been kissing someone when he walked up, Rose interrupted him. "I didn't see you," she said quickly. "Oh, this is my boyfriend Alec," she said, emphasizing the word boyfriend as she nodded her head towards the tall form next to her.

"Yeah, I've seen him around town," Phil mumbled, actually appearing red in the face as if he just realized Rose's indifference.

Before either he or Rose could get a word in, Phil turned and ran the other direction without so much as a goodbye. Rose hoped that was the end of her troubles with that.

"Thank you," Rose said, sending a smile up at Alec for actually cooperating with her plan. "He's been following me around for weeks."

"Some blokes don't get the hint," Alec agreed, a bit of a smile forming on his face. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something else, but quickly closed it and looked the other direction once more.

"Umm," Rose muttered, not sure what to say next not to be rude. "You can let go of my hand now," she finished, hoping she wasn't looking pink in the face at all.

Alec quickly dropped her hand and stepped about a foot backwards before his solemn expression returned to his face. "Sorry," he stammered out. "I've actually got to go to work," he said in a somewhat relieved voice.

"See you later," Rose answered, trying to wonder why her hand felt so much emptier than it had felt before. All she wanted to do now was finish up her walk without any more unwelcome interruptions.

"Yeah," Alec agreed with a light shake of his head. "Have a good day, Rose," he finished before he turned and began to walk up the beach the opposite direction Rose was planning on heading on.

Rose stood still for a long moment watching Alec walk away with her brow furrowed. She honestly didn't understand him one bit. He had called her by her first name, something he said he would never do. On top of that, he had seemed quite a bit more enthusiastic in kissing her than she had expected. Not that she was going to complain, she decided to herself. Turning around, Rose headed the other way, feeling like someone was watching her walk away.

**Surprised? I was when I wrote it...**

**Anyhow, what do you think? I feel like Rose may be realizing that Alec is a bit more fond of her than he lets on...what do you think? And is that the last we will here of Phil? **

**Let me know in a review!**

**Love you all,**

**Gabrielle**


	4. Onwards

**I watched Harry Potter today like the true geek that I am! Hmm...may have to read the books again. **

**Anyhow, I have had a long weekend so here is another update!**

**Basically a placeholder chapter before the whole plot of the story begins! **

**Enjoy!**

Onwards

"Alec asked me to give you this," Ellie announced a few days after the awkward beach incident, coming home from work and dropping a thin file folder on the counter in front of Rose before picking Fred up from his spot on the floor.

Nodding a thank you, Rose continued to add appropriate exclamations to her phone conversation with her mother. She wasn't really paying attention, but she was fairly sure she had the drift of the gossip her mum was discussing.

Almost twenty minutes later, Rose was able to extract herself from the conversation and hang up the phone. Grabbing the suddenly suspicious file folder, she made her way up the stairs. It was odd working here and she wasn't sure if she quite enjoyed it or not. Whenever Ellie was home she felt unneeded since she was doing the parenting, so she was contemplating getting a second job. She just wasn't sure where.

Pushing those thoughts away until later, Rose sat down on her bed and opened the folder, not even sure what she was expecting. "What the hell?" she whispered, her face turning white at what she saw. The file only contained one piece of white printer paper. But it was the red wording that really worried her.

After flipping over everything, she realized there was nothing else to see at all. Before her mind had even caught up to what her body was doing, she found herself downstairs in front of Ellie. "Where does Alec live?" she asked, knowing that she had to pay him an important visit to him right about now.

As Ellie gave her the address and how to get their walking, Rose silently fumed. She processed the information so she wouldn't forget and almost didn't realize that Ellie was speaking to her.

"Sorry?" she asked, blinking as she looked up at the woman in confusion.

"I asked why are you going over there?" Ellie asked once more, cocking her head to the side as she waited for Rose's answer.

"Need to talk to him," she explained quickly, wondering what Ellie would be thinking. She hadn't ever mentioned Alec to Ellie ever since they first met, but she was sure Ellie knew how much he annoyed Rose. Every time she saw him they only exchanged a few tense phrases and shortly thereafter Rose would always attempt to say something about his rudeness. For Rose it had even become something of a little game, though she wasn't sure how he felt about it.

Sending a polite smile in Ellie's direction, Rose pulled on her shoes and headed out the door in the direction of Hardy's house. On the way she fumed, trying to come up with what she should say when she first saw him. Seeing the familiar number of his house, she marched up to the door and rang the doorbell repeatedly, sure that he was home and had to answer.

"Is this your pathetic way of trying to flirt with me?" Rose hissed when the door was opened to reveal a tired looking Hardy watching her with wide eyes. "What is wrong with you?" she asked once more, suppressing the urge to cross her arms.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, clearly having just woken up from an impromptu nap.

"Listen, you scared me," she mumbled, knowing that she sounded like a little kid, but not being able to stop herself from continuing. "I know you don't care to be nice to me, but can you at least not do something like this and act like you had nothing to do with it?"

Brow furrowed, Alec stepped back and beckoned for Rose to come into the house and closed the door before he spoke up again. "I honestly don't know what happened."

Pouting for a moment, Rose took the silent moment to glance over at his house. From what she could see, it looked like a fairly nice house. Besides that, it was sparsely decorated like she would expect a single guy's home to be. "You gave this to Ellie to give to me," she answered, handing him the file folder she had been gripping in her hand.

Walking further into the house and plopping down on the simple couch, Alec opened the file, eyes widening at what he saw. "I wouldn't do that," he retorted.

Going up next to him, Rose glanced down at the words once more. All that was said was 'I'm not done with you yet' in ominous red ink. "Then…" Rose muttered mostly to herself as Alec flipped the paper over to see if there was anything else.

"Rose, I didn't give this folder to Ellie," Alec responded, calling Rose by her name once more. "Someone may have put my name on it and slipped it into her office to give to you," he continued, squinting his eyes as he thought. "I was gone for an hour or so this afternoon, so maybe that is when it happened."

"Why were you gone?" Rose asked, still quite suspicious. It wasn't that she didn't believe him, it was just that the other reality of what it could be scared her too much.

"Doctor's appointment," he answered, glancing up at Rose for a moment and sighing when he noticed Rose wasn't accepting his answer yet. "I had a checkup to make sure the pacemaker they put in is still fine."

For some reason, Rose spoke up again. "And you're okay, right?" she asked, forgetting for a moment why she had come to his house in the first place.

"Yeah," he quickly answered before turning his gaze back to what was in his hands. "Someone else must have done it, but obviously Ellie didn't see because she still thought it was from me."

"Do you know who it was?" she managed to ask, her mind racing a thousand miles an hour. All she could think of at this moment was what Jimmy Stone had said to her years ago. And, if she was correct in her assumption, he had recently gotten out of jail due to her tip off to the police about his drug dealing.

"No way of knowing," Alec answered, glancing up at her as he took off his glasses. "Do you think you may know who it was?"

Biting her lip, Rose stood up and started pacing back and forth in front of the couch. "My ex," she answered honestly. The last thing she wanted was to let Alec see her upset about this, so she shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal.

"What makes you think he would do that?" Alec asked, clearly converting into investigation mode that he used for his job.

"Umm," Rose stammered out, staring down at the floor and her scuffed boots. "He went to jail for drug dealing and he called me to say that he wasn't done with me yet."

Raising an eyebrow since he could tell she wasn't telling the entire truth, Alec spoke up again. "Done with what exactly?"

"When I found out I confronted him," she answered, wishing she had something to do with her hands. "Should have broken up with him when I first suspected it, but didn't want him to get upset," she continued, unwilling to look up. "Sometimes he got…physical," she explained. "Anyway, I ended up in the hospital for a week," she finished, wincing when she remembered how hard that time had been in her life.

"What's his name?" Alec asked, a strange expression in his eyes as he leaved forwards.

"Jimmy Stone," Rose answered automatically. She bit her lip, wondering whether or not she should have said anything at all. "It probably isn't a big deal at all," Rose continued in a fast voice. "So please don't go doing anything with the police."

Shaking his head, Alec responded. "You can't just let someone threaten you, Rose."

"It probably isn't him," Rose reasoned, continuing to avoid eye contact. "Probably just a joke from someone in town," she continued, not even making sense to herself.

Raising an eyebrow, Alec interrupted. "I know you don't believe that," he continued as he studied Rose's face. "Tell you what, I will just do a little researching myself at work and won't mention it to anyone," he paused, hoping he wouldn't break his promise. "And if anything else happens I'll get other people involved."

"Thank you," Rose breathed, visibly sagging in relief that she had someone on her side, even if it was Alec Hardy.

"You have to promise me that you will watch out for anything odd," Alec explained, sitting up straighter and holding out his hand. "Give me your phone," he practically ordered as Rose reached into her pocket and hesitantly handed her the pink phone. "Call me if you notice _anything_ at all," he said, looking up to make sure she was listening. "Promise, Rose?"

Nodding her head in agreement, Rose watched as Alec punched his number into her phone. "I will," she answered. After speaking her fears out loud, Rose didn't feel a bit better about the whole situation. She was still terrified that it actually was Jimmy and she knew she wouldn't fare well if he saw her again.

"You can't mess around with stuff like this," he told her, pausing before he got too carried away with his lecture. Instead, he asked her if there was anything else he should know. Surprisingly, Rose nodded and opened her mouth to speak before closing it again. Gesturing for her to continue, she finally began to tell him what was on her mind for much longer than she expected to.

Standing up once she was done talking, he put her phone back on the table next to the folder and made his way towards the kitchen with Rose hesitantly following. "I really don't have much food…" he muttered mostly to himself as he turned to face Rose.

"Oh!" Rose exclaimed, shaking her head to break up her thoughts as she responded. "I really should get going anyway, no need to give me food."

"It's pretty late," Alec answered, glancing at the clock behind Rose's head. "I'm sure Ellie and the kids have already eaten."

Sighing, Rose did realize that her stomach was rather empty. Instead of just coming to his house to tell him off, she had spent hours here. "I've already taken up too much of your time," Rose continued, trying to think of what she could scrounge up for dinner.

"I'm going to call for Chinese takeaway," Alec countered with no question of whether she wanted him to or not in his voice. "You can see if there is anything you want in the cabinet in the meantime," Alec said, gesturing with his arm for a quick moment. "I think I have some tea in there."

While Alec went down the hall to get his phone, Rose opened up his cabinet. Surprisingly, there was some good tea in that. Besides that and a few crisps, there really wasn't anything that he had in his kitchen. It had surprised her, that he was being so nice to her. Since she had gotten there he hadn't said anything rude at all to her. Sure, he wasn't a peppy guy showering her with compliments, but he was being helpful and nice. Wondering if she had perhaps gauged him wrong, Rose got out everything that she needed to make some tea.

…

After Rose had finished cleaning up the food as she had insisted she would, she figured she really should leave now. "Thanks for being so nice when I came here calling you a git," Rose said, feeling awkward as she rocked back and forth.

"You don't need to keep on thanking me, Rose," he muttered in response as he had every time she mentioned something like that.

"I was just sort of…freaked out about the whole thing," she explained in a quiet voice. "Never expected to have anyone threatening me like that again."

Nodding, Rose saw Alec visibly gulp before he responded. "I'll take care of it," he repeated, acting like it was no big deal.

"Can you…" Rose asked, feeling rather stupid for even asking. She and Alec were supposed to hate each other. "Can you give me a hug?" she finished, hoping her face wasn't burning bright red.

Alec looked like he was contemplating something, but did step forwards and pull her against her chest. Neither of them said anything, but Rose breathed in his surprisingly pleasant scent and wrapped her arms around her waist. She reminded herself that everything was going to be okay again as she regulated her breathing, surprised that Alec hadn't pulled away. A moment later, Rose pulled back and took a few steps back with a slight smile on her face.

"I'm giving you a ride back to Ellie's," Alec announced, already reaching for his car keys. "It's dark outside and especially after what happened today I don't want you walking all that way by yourself," he added on so that she couldn't argue with him.

Surprisingly, Rose found herself answering the opposite of what she wanted to. "That'd be lovely, Alec," she said, halfway waiting for him to correct her and not call her by name. Instead, he didn't and just nodded at her to open the door so they could go to his car.

Walking slightly behind him, Rose wondered what would happen after today. The only issue was she really wasn't sure what she was contemplating anymore.

**Drama begins...what do you all think is going on here? **

**Comments are always appreciated, so please just let me know! **

**Gabrielle**

**P.S. Basically, review!**

**(get it...it is like Basically, run! but Basically, review! instead)**


	5. Broadchurch

**Moving along...I have no idea why I am writing this so fast! (yes, you can thank me!)**

**Anyhow, I still don't know where I am going with this story until I sit down and write, but here you go!**

**Enjoy!**

Broadchurch

"Do you like living here, Tom?" Rose asked the boy after she finished helping him out on his math homework. She was honestly curious. Tom and her got along okay, but he never really talked to her about anything important.

One night Ellie had gotten out a bottle of wine and told her everything. About how her husband had killed his son's best friend, how she thought she could never trust knowing someone enough to marry them again. She had loved her husband and honestly never even imagined he could be capable of something so terrible. Never understood how someone could take someone's life. But now she was forced to deal with it whatever was she could. The logical plan would have been to leave Broadchurch and never be reminded of where it had all taken place ever again and that was what her thought process had been at first. However, she couldn't let her husband's horrible choices affect her family for the rest of her life. So, she had plucked up her courage and returned, knowing some town people may never be able to look her in the eyes again.

"Sometimes," Tom answered slowly, staring down at his completed math problems.

"I like it here," Rose continued, hoping talking would get Tom to start telling her things as well. "So different from London that I'm just getting used to it, but life seems so much simpler here," she paused, beginning to speak the truth. "Sometimes I wish there were more people here though. I still feel like I don't know anyone here yet. I see some of the same people all the time, but they just watch me like they are trying to figure out if I'm worthy of associating with them."

"They didn't always act like that," Tom interrupted, looking up at Rose for a quick moment. "They were always very standoffish to strangers, but accepted all the new people moving in. I just think that after…everything that happened last year…they are wary."

Rose took a deep breath, being careful to not say the wrong thing and push Tom further away. "Are you like that as well, Tom?"

"The woman I have to talk to after school says that," Tom answered, obviously not wanting to say that he went to a therapist. "But it really isn't hurting anyone right now, though I am still supposed to work on it."

Glad she was able to get him to talk, Rose probed a bit deeper. "And you like all your friends at school?"

"Some of them are nice," he said, the expression on his face clearly saying that not all the kids were so kind after what his dad had done to Danny. "I want some orange juice," he interjected, getting up from the table to get himself some of the juice.

Rose leaned back in her chair as she let out a sigh. She had learned a lot about Tom in those few minutes and knew he wasn't going to discuss it any longer. Just the fact that he had said anything at all made her relieved and she hoped the poor boy wouldn't ever have to go through anything so horrid again in his life.

…

"Rose Tyler," called out a familiar voice, causing Rose to spin around, pulling her hood out of her face to see who it was.

"Oh, hi," Rose said, squinting to see fully through the pouring rain. Apparently it wasn't a good idea to go buy some fruit when it was even looking a bit cloudy. "Haven't seen you in a long time, Becca," she continued, noticing that the other woman across from her had thought ahead and brought an umbrella. The first few weeks at Broadchurch before Ellie had offered her the job she had stayed at Becca's inn and chatted with her quite often. However, she really had only seen her for a few minutes since then.

"My inn is right there and it is pouring, wanna come in and have a drink?" she asked, a smile of her face when Rose nodded and followed her inside.

Realizing she was quite out of practice of this whole socializing thing, Rose sat down on the couch in the lounge across from Becca, knowing she looked very much like a drowned rat. "I really should just throw this away," Rose murmured, glancing down at the bag of grapes and apples that she had been carrying with her that were now soaking wet.

"They will be fine," Becca quickly answered, getting to her feet a moment later. "Is it too early to drink wine?"

"Not on my clock," Rose responded with a smirk. "It is going to be dark soonish and it is summer…" she finished, following Becca over to the bar.

When Rose arrived, she could hear a conversation, but pretended like she wasn't listening in. "Chloe, you aren't supposed to be serving people drinks," Becca said, looking at a teenaged blonde girl with a lot of eyeliner that was behind the desk. Of course Rose figured out that she was Chloe Latimer, Danny's sister, when she heard her name, but didn't change her face expression to let on that she knew. If she worked here, she just wondered why she hadn't seen her before when she had stayed there.

"It isn't like it is a big deal or anything," Chloe answered cockily, looking over at Rose with a raised eyebrow while still ignoring her boss. "What can I get you, Rose?"

Furrowing her brow, Rose sat down on one of the barstools in front of the bar. "Becca's right, but I'll take Sex on the Beach," Rose answered, raising an eyebrow to see if Chloe knew how to make her favorite drink. "And how is it that everyone in this town already knows my name?"

"It was the same when I moved here," Becca answered, lightly pushing Chloe out of the way as she began to make Rose's drink, sure that the teenager would mess something up.

Huffing in annoyance, Chloe scooted over and set her elbows on the counter, leaning closer towards Rose. "People talk more when you're snogging the arse of the town," she said, waiting patiently for Rose's reaction.

Holding back the urge to make a face, Rose's face remained stoic. She should've been expecting some comment by now. After all, the beach wasn't exactly empty when she had kissed Hardy so that the creeper Phil would get the message. And of course she had learned from Ellie that Alec wasn't exactly gentle to the Latimer family during the investigation, even arresting Chloe's father Mark for suspicion. "I like to be the center of gossip," Rose responded, deciding to not even attempt to deny it.

"Yes, Dean was wrong," Chloe announced to herself, a huge smile on her face. Rose had no idea who this Dean was but judging from the look on her face she could assume it was Chloe's boyfriend. "He so owes me now…"

"We aren't together," Rose commented as Becca glanced over at her with interested eyes. She was sure this revelation would be traveling around town by the time she got back to Ellie's. "He's a bit of a prat, honestly."

"Ah, friends with benefits?" Chloe said, winking at Rose. At the same time, Becca let out an exasperated sigh and pointed at the clock on the wall. Evidently Chloe's shift of work was over. "Do I have to go now?" Chloe asked, pouting a bit to add to her cause. Rose assumed she used this face quite often and, after what happened to her brother, got away with more than she should. "The baby is probably going to be crying all night like always."

Appearing to contemplate what she said for a moment, Becca finally responded. "I know your mum would appreciate your help."

Assuming she wouldn't get her way, Chloe went on her way home, pausing for a moment before she left the room. "My mum said that she wants to meet you," she announced, not adding anything else before she left the inn.

"Why would she want to meet me?" Rose asked, eyes widening as Becca finished up with her drink and poured a glass of wine for herself as well.

Coming around the bar and sitting next to Rose on a stool, Becca answered after a long pause while Rose's mind whirled. "Honestly I have no idea, everyone _is_ curious about you though," she answered, wincing a bit before she responded. Something had obviously happened between her and the Latimer had occurred, but Rose was in the dark for now. "Beth, Chloe's mum," she quickly clarified. "Well, we don't really talk so I have no idea what she wants with you."

"I honestly have no idea what I'm doing that is drawing so much attention," Rose wondered mostly to herself, tracing the rim of her glass. "I really wasn't all that big of a deal at all in London. Could have ran away with a man in a spaceship and no one really would have noticed."

"Listen, if you want to be less of the talk of the town you need to stop being so elusive," Becca told Rose, taking a sip out of her wine glass before she spoke up again. "People have all of these ideas about you. Quite a few think you are researching to write a book about Broadchurch and Danny's murder."

"I'm not," Rose quickly replied, surprised that someone would think that of her. "And even if I were wouldn't I be trying to interview the whole town to get some more perspective?"

Becca put her hands up, signifying that she couldn't answer any more. "I really have no idea where that came up," she continued with a glint in her eye. "The more people in the town you get to know, the less people will talk. Trust me, when my boyfriend and I opened up the Inn we were talk of the town until people knew who I really was."

Nodding, Rose began to formulate how that was going to occur. She knew it would take some effort and a lot of uncomfortable situations, but if she wanted to stay in this town for long it would have to be done eventually.

…

Taking advice from Becca, Rose found herself on the way to church that Sunday morning. It wasn't all that often when she went to church, and frankly wasn't sure if she even believed in God. Anyhow, Becca had said a lot of the gossips went to church and would think she was a better person if they saw her there.

Still, she felt rather uncomfortable about the whole situation. She wasn't sure if she would even know anyone there besides seeing some of them in passing around town. Thankfully, she really didn't have to walk far to arrive at the church, so that was a definite plus. She had asked Ellie if she ever went to church, but she had just looked at her and shook her head and said no more.

Once she had walked up to the rather antiquely beautiful chapel, Rose glanced around, wondering where she should sit. To her surprise, she saw the Latimer family sitting near the front of the church. And they had the baby with them as well, which surprised Rose even more. Obviously that must have been hard, to have another unplanned child so soon after they lost their son.

Deciding to sit near the back of the church, Rose slipped into her pew and sat there, wondering if she should kneel and pray or something like a few people around her were. However, before she had time to make a decision she saw someone scoot over to sit next to her out of the corner of her eye.

"Are you investigating or something?" Rose muttered, trying not to speak too loud as she looked at the scruffy face of Alec Hardy. However, she decided, his face wasn't really scruffy, but looked like more intentional facial hair than usual.

"No, I'm coming to church," Alec answered quickly, acting as if he had no more intentions of saying anything else to Rose.

"How come you're sitting by me?" Rose asked, scooting a bit closer over to him so she didn't have to talk so loud.

"Why wouldn't I?" Alec responded. He opened his mouth like he was going to continue, but snapped his mouth shut again. Still, he spoke up again shortly after that. "Do you have someone else to sit with or something?"

Rose snorted, holding back the urge to laugh in annoyance at his brusque manners. "You just assume that I don't have anyone else to sit with but you," she responded, refusing to look over at him. "And that you are the best option I have at the moment."

"Well, I sort of am," he reasoned and she was sure he was smiling judging by his voice. "You know I actually had Olly from the paper run over and ask me about you the other day," Alec whispered, leaning in close enough to her ear that she could feel him pressing up against her and his breath against her ear. "I think he fancies you from afar."

Rolling her eyes, Rose just swatted at Alec's arm for him to move away, deciding not to respond at the moment. After all, she really wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond to that. Plus, it appeared as if the service was starting. And to her surprise the reverend was one of the younger ones she had seen. Glancing at Alec from the corner of her eye, Rose sat back in her seat and prepared herself to ignore the people that kept on looking over at her. The new girl from London…if only she knew what they were saying about her.

**Enjoy? Hopefully! Anyhow, I will have Beth Latimer more in the next chapter as well as Rose getting an additional job...let me know if you have any suggestions!**

**Any guesses on where this story is going?! I really want to hear!**

**So...review! Anything and everything, review!**

**Gabrielle**


	6. Learning

**Another update! Whoa! Maybe I should get a boyfriend or something... (hahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahahah)**

**Anyhow, please enjoy! Not much action happens in this story, but it does help you all get an idea into both Alec and Rose. I lied actually, more of the townies in the next chapter. **

**Read onwards hopefully.**

Learning

Olly had asked her out. She had only run into him a few times around town, but he had always started a long conversation with her. Which is why, the day after he finally succeeded in getting her phone number, he had called the next day and asked her out. She wasn't all that surprised, but couldn't help herself from saying yes to going out to dinner with him. She was always quite bad about turning people down and Olly was no exception.

"Oliver Stevens, Rose?" Alec asked and Rose could almost imagine the way he would be rolling his eyes as he said the name like it was poison. "Really?"

"What's so terrible about him?" Rose responded cheekily, biting her lip as she waited for his response. She had only called him to ask if he was going to come to Tom's football game the next morning. And inevitably it was an hour later and she still had her phone pressed up against her ear lying in her bed like she was in high school.

"He's a right little prat," Alec answered with a sigh. Rose thought he was about to say something else, but he stopped himself and remained silent.

Pursing her lips, Rose wondered how she could respond. She could always just ask him why he disliked him, but that would be boring. The more attractive option was to tease him and try to get a reaction out of him that way. Even though he really was never rude directly to her anymore, it still miffed her how closed off he was at times. "And you aren't, Mr. I don't do friendships."

"He leaked Danny's death to the media before we had released our statement," he explained in a solemn tone, completely ignoring Rose's attempt to tease him. "And…basically got in the way of the investigation multiple times."

"Ah," Rose responded, not sure if she wanted to know the details. Sure, she had talked to quite a few people about Danny's murder, but was never completely comfortable discussing it. She hadn't been there when everything was happening, so felt as if she didn't have a right to be involved. The only thing she had really delved into was Alec's heart problems while on the case. "Well he seems harmless to me," she continued. "Says he is going to take me out to eat dinner somewhere and then to get dessert…"

Alec clicked his tongue, surprising Rose by how quiet he was being. "Typical…" he finally said. "I'm sure you'll have a horrid time."

"Why are you being such an arse?" Rose interrupted, sitting up in bed and glaring at the corner of the room pretending it was Hardy's face.

"Well I don't know why you have to settle for any guy that looks at you twice," Alec responded in a cold voice, surprising Rose by how rude he was acting.

Rose sucked in a breath, wondering what she could possible say in response. She knew it was true, that she was used to settling. First she had thrown herself at Jimmy, thinking that he was too good for her since he was an older bloke. After realizing how wrong she was, she had several short term relationships with guys that made Jimmy look like a saint. Eventually she did clean up her act and date Mickey, but she admitted that she had been settling. And after she had wasted so many years of her life she had realized that she wanted more and fled here.

"I'm not settling," Rose feebly protested, resisting the urge to stick out her lip and pout like a child.

"Fine, if you want to get stuck with him," Alec responded, no sign that he was teasing with her in his voice.

"Stop it," Rose whispered, praying that Alec wouldn't notice the way her voice was wavering. "It doesn't mean anything. It's just a date."

"And you'll keep on saying that as the years pass on," Alec continued on his rant, not listening to Rose in the slightest. "Then you'll expect someone to come bail you out like they always did in the past. What if that doesn't happen, Rose?"

Stuttering for a moment, Rose finally came up with a response. "I can take care of myself, I have been for years."

"And it was you taking care of yourself when you ended up at my house crying about how scared you were of Jimmy Stone?" Alec asked in a sarcastic tone.

Rose sat still for several moments, hardly believing that Alec had used that against her. She had been vulnerable that night, finally admitting how scared she still was of Jimmy Stone. That whenever she thought about being in his presence again she felt like a scared sixteen year old girl with no one to go to for help. "Everyone is right," she said, sniffing in an attempt to keep the tears in her eye. "You are a jerk."

"Wait, are you _crying_?" Alec questioned, his voice rising in surprise when he heard her obvious sniffle again.

"No," Rose mumbled, feeling her chin tremble as she spoke.

"Shit," Alec hissed mostly to himself, clearly not wanting such a reaction from Rose. "Please don't cry, Rose. I was being a prick, I didn't mean anything that I said."

Deciding that she had no desire to reply again, Rose waited a moment more and then hung up, wishing she could bang the phone on the receiver to have a more dramatic withdrawal. With her phone still clutched in her hand, Rose slammed her head against the pillow, cursing herself for being so stupid. For actually believing that DI Hardy was a nice guy, to confide in him, to think that perhaps… No, she stopped herself, she wasn't even going to think about _that_ ever again.

Just as she rolled onto her side, her phone rang again. To no one's surprise, it was Alec. Not having the energy to listen to his halfhearted apology again, Rose just hung up and closed her eyes. Of course less than a minute later her phone rang out again, so she decided to take matters into her own hands and just turned the phone off altogether.

…

Less than ten minutes later her bedroom door was thrust open, revealing a frazzled looking Alec Hardy standing there. He took a hesitant step into her bedroom, glancing around at the surprisingly pink walls that Ellie hadn't gotten around to painting from the previous owner's daughter's room.

"You're mean," Rose muttered, pushing herself further back into the bed until she was sitting against the headboard.

"I didn't mean to make you cry," Alec quickly countered, rocking back and forth on his feet with his hands stuck into his pockets. "I was just teasing you, honestly," he continued, letting out a sigh and walking over to get on the bed next to Rose.

"No," Rose interrupted, holding out her hand before he had sat down. He immediately jumped backwards, eyes wide at her apparent rejection. "Shoes off before you get on the bed. I don't want muddy sheets."

Something of a relieved smile filling his face, Alec quickly took off his shoes before sitting down next to Rose on the bed. "Now, do you accept my apology?" he asked quickly. "Or did I drive all the way here to talk to you after you hung up and wouldn't answer your phone for nothing?"

"You're forgiven," Rose answered, scooting over and resting her head against his very available shoulder. However, he only stiffened up at her movement, causing Rose to inwardly curse her rash movements. One thing Alec Hardy was not was a touchy feely person. "But you owe be a cuddle," Rose dared to add, wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling herself closer to him.

"Well, if that is all," Alec responded with more than a smile in his voice, actually seeming to relax against Rose.

"I'm not weak you know," Rose began to say, not even sure if she should bring it up again. "I am very much capable of myself. I learned a lot from my mistakes in the past and I'm not about to make them again."

"Of course you are Rose Tyler," Alec interrupted, resting his chin on top of her head. "You're fantastic."

Rose smiled in spite of herself, hardly believing that Alec had paid her such a compliment. "Yeah?" she asked with raised eyebrows, needing to hear confirmation.

"Yes," Alec answered without a moment's hesitation.

Not able to stop herself from beaming, Rose just reveled in the moment for a while longer. She swore she felt Alec's lips brush the top of her head, but she wasn't sure and wasn't about to turn around and freak him out or anything. "Then why are you so cynical?" Rose couldn't help but ask. If he really thought she was fantastic, there would be no question that she would allow herself to be stuck in such a rut again.

"Well, what happened with my wife," Alec began to say, pausing when Rose tensed up and pushed away from him until she was as far away from him as she could be on the bed.

"You're m_arried_?" Rose spat out, her face turning completely white as she stared at him with wide eyes. "Why in the hell hasn't it come up that you're married?!"

"I'm not, we're divorced," Alec quickly interjected, surprised that Rose hadn't heard what had happened with his wife and Sandbrook before from someone around town. "Umm…I guess I should mention that I have a sixteen year old daughter as well?" he added, raising an eyebrow as color flooded back into Rose's face.

Taking a moment to process it all, Rose stayed still. Sure, she realized that Alec was older than her, but she hadn't imagined him being a dad. She was only ten years older than his daughter, she thought, trying to do math in her head. "How old are you?" Rose asked, hoping he wouldn't read the wrong thing into her question.

"Thirty nine," Alec answered in a solemn tone. "Had Madison, my daughter, six months after Blair and I got married."

"Can you?" Rose muttered, avoiding his eyes as she scooted over to sit next to him, not ready to resume their previous position. "Can you tell me about it?"

Nodding with an unpleasant scowl on his face, Alec put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her back to lean against his chest. Waiting for him to begin, Rose reached out and grabbed ahold of his free hand, glad that Alec was actually going to share with her what had happened.

…

What felt like hours later, Rose stretched, hoping that Alec hadn't seen her yawn. She was sure she hadn't heard him talk so much before, but she was relieved that he allowed her to speak up as well. It had been nice, to finally begin to understand each other better.

"Umm…" Rose mumbled, glancing at the clock to see that it was now past midnight. "Do you know if Ellie knows if you're here?"

"I didn't see her when I came in," he answered as he rubbed his eyes. "I have a spare key," he explained when he saw Rose glance up at him with accusing eyes. "Though I'm sure she's noticed my car parked on the street."

"M'kay," Rose mumbled again, leaning back against Alec's chest that was a surprisingly comfortable pillow. "Do you want me to go get us some tea or biscuits?"

Alec seemed to contemplate this for a moment before responding. "I don't really want anything unless you are really adamant about it."

"Just trying to polite, don't really want to get up," Rose explained before giggling. "So I have another thing for you to do until I completely forgive you."

"You haven't forgiven me yet?" Alec asked, faking extreme offense. "I thought I earned my forgiveness a long time ago."

Shaking her head with a stern look on her face before leaning over the side of the bed to retrieve her pink laptop from the floor, Rose didn't respond. "You are going to watch Frozen with me and if you make fun of it I can never speak to you again," Rose said, a grin growing on her face as Alec glowered at her.

"I thought that was still in theatres?" Alec asked, vaguely remembering a silly add about a reindeer and a snowman fighting for a carrot. It definitely seemed like something he wouldn't ever take the time to watch if it was his choice.

With a smirk on her face, Rose took a few minutes searching the web whilst biting on her tongue, trying to remain oblivious of Alec's gaze on her. "Tada!" she announced, pulling up the beginning screen of Frozen. "Be prepared for the best Disney movie ever made."

"You know as a member of the law enforcement I should report you for breaking copyright laws," Alec commented, taking the laptop from Rose and placing it further on down the bed.

"You wouldn't," Rose responded without a hint of doubt in her voice, pouting a bit when she looked up at him.

"Come on, let's get this movie started," Alec announced, clasping his hands behind his head as Rose got up to turn the lights off to supposedly make the movie atmosphere. When Rose got back next to him he was a bit surprised that she brought a blanket back, murmuring something about it being cold in her room. Wordlessly, Rose had fit herself back tucked against his side and covered them both up with the blanket, feeling content for the first time in forever. (hehe Frozen song!)

**I sure hope this chapter seems believable in the slightest without too many mistakes...I wrote it today instead of doing hw...**

**What do you all think? I personally just couldn't help having an adorable chapter! What do you think is going to happen with Olly? And...will Jimmy be mentioned again? **

**I hope you enjoyed and if you have any comments REVIEW!**

**Thanks so much,**

**Gabrielle**

**P.S. I love Frozen, can you tell! (Love is an open door is basically a goal for my future...)**


	7. Football

**Soo...don't expect an update for some time! I am going to be working on my other stories for some time and you know...try to finish at least one!**

**Enjoy!**

Football

When Rose woke up the next morning, she was surprised to see that Alec was still sprawled across her bed like he had been the night before. She had assumed that he would get up and leave sometime in the night. The movie hadn't even finished yet when she had fallen asleep.

Frankly she felt too comfortable to move and was more than tempted to stay where she was and fall back to sleep. Sometime in the night they had both repositioned themselves until they were spooning and Alec's face was nuzzled up against her neck. It felt so refreshingly intimate that Rose couldn't stop herself from taking a few moments to just relax in her warm bed.

However, she eventually untangled herself from him, hoping that her movements hadn't woken him up. Relieved to see that he just rolled onto his back and continued to sleep, Rose made her way to the bathroom, crinkling her nose at her messy appearance. Deciding that she really should wake up Alec before she took a shower, Rose went back and sat next to Alec on the bed, lightly poking him in the shoulder in an attempt to wake him up.

"Huh?" Alec mumbled, opening his bleary eyes as he looked around the room and tried to figure out where he was. Immediately, he pushed himself into a sitting position, finding himself face to face with Rose. Her hair was all askew and her makeup smeared, but he thought she looked adorable.

"You fell asleep last night," Rose quickly explained, averting her eyes from his gaze. "Well, I guess I did too."

"It's fine," Alec responded, feeling slightly embarrassed due to the strange expression on Rose's face. Hopefully Ellie wouldn't realize he had spent the night in Rose's room and jump to false conclusions. Shaking his head, Alec reached for his phone on the nightstand to check the time. Noticing that it was much later than he had thought, he held back the urge to scowl. Thankfully, he wasn't going to be late to work or anything.

Rose stood up, stretching out her stiff muscles as she yawned. "Do you have somewhere to be?" she muttered, contemplating whether she should take a shower now or just throw her hair in a ponytail. "Wait, is today Saturday?" she asked, wondering why she was acting so blonde today. That always seemed to happen to her when she slept in later than usual.

"Yeah," Alec immediately responded, pushing his hair out of his eyes as he stood up to make his way to the bathroom.

Scowling, Rose threw her hair into a messy bun and tried to scrape some of the mascara out from under her eyes so she wouldn't look like a raccoon. As Alec made his way past her to her bathroom, she rushed to her closet, throwing on something just so that she wouldn't be wearing the same clothes as yesterday. "I've got to make the kids breakfast before Tom's football game," Rose explained to the bathroom door so he wouldn't wonder why she had left before she exited her room.

Barreling down the stairs, Rose was surprised when she didn't see either of the boys moping in the hallway. However, she came to a dead stop right outside of the kitchen when she smelled waffles and eggs.

"I'm so sorry," Rose immediately apologized as she entered the kitchen. "I overslept and you had to make breakfast," she continued, seeing Ellie at the stove with the eggs as Tom strapped Fred into his high chair.

"It's fine," Ellie responded, a smile on her face as she turned around. "I've missed cooking breakfast food lately," she added for Rose's benefit. "You can just sit down and relax, I'm almost done anyway."

Thinking of Alec up in her room, Rose suddenly felt like a teenager again. "Umm," she muttered, trying to think of an appropriate excuse. "Oh, I'll get the orange juice," she announced, bounding towards the fridge to have something to do with her hands.

Of course the moment she turned her back to get the orange juice she heard the heavy sound of Alec's footsteps and stifled a groan of annoyance. She and Ellie had discussed that Rose wasn't to have any gentlemen callers spending the night in her room since the boys were so close by, and she was sure Alec wouldn't be an exception.

"Rose, are you making tea?" Alec asked as he came around the corner, clearly still half asleep until he had some caffeine in his system. And his appearance wasn't helping Rose's case in the slightest. His clothes were wrinkled from sleeping in them and he was missing his tie and hadn't buttoned the first few buttons of his shirt.

Spinning around, Rose was happy that she was able to see Alec's face as it dawned on him that the whole family, not just Rose, was in the kitchen. His eyes kept on flitting between hers and Ellie's and from the look on his face it was obvious that Ellie must not be pleased. "Umm," Rose muttered just to have something to say to break the silence. "I have orange juice," she finished, holding up the carton of juice she had in her hand.

With a knowing look on his face, Tom started to laugh, causing both Alec and Rose to turn bright red. Before long, Ellie spoke up, sending her son a harsh look. "We are about to eat, I think they'll be enough," she said, finishing up the eggs and cocking her head at Rose to make another spot at the table.

"It's fine, don't need to eat," Alec replied in a quiet voice. "Don't want to take your food."

"I insist," Ellie responded, the tone in her voice saying it was the end of the discussion.

Hesitantly, Alec sat down in the chair that Rose had just claimed, deciding to start a very one sided conversation with Fred.

After the awkward breakfast for both Rose and Alec, Ellie told Tom to go upstairs and help get Fred ready to go out, leaving the three adults in the kitchen.

"No sense asking if you stayed the night," Ellie began, glancing over at Alec out of the corner of her eye as she leaned back in her chair. "When did you even get here? I didn't see you come in last night."

"I think you were downstairs with the boys when I came in," Alec quickly explained, opening his mouth to continue when Ellie put her hand up and interrupted him.

"Listen, I know it isn't in my place to say who you should be sleeping with," Ellie said, running a hand through her hair and letting out an exasperated sigh. "But please don't be so obvious about it when the kids are home."

"Obvious?" Alec asked, clearly not allowing Ellie to finish her spiel. "How did I do anything that was _obvious?"_ he continued, a scowl etched on his face. "It isn't like I scarred the kids for life or anything like that."

"Rose, you can stay at Hardy's, okay?" Ellie said, turning her gaze from Alec to Rose. "And Alec can come over to see you here too, but I don't want him spending the night here again."

Biting her lip, Rose contemplated the best way to respond. Even if she said that nothing had happened last night, it wasn't like Ellie would believe her. "So I'm not in trouble?" Rose muttered, thankful that Ellie didn't even seem to consider her not watching the kids anymore.

"No, I'm just surprised," Ellie answered, glancing back between Alec and Rose again. "I had no idea the two of you were together."

"We're not," Alec responded in a gruff voice, surprising Rose by how quickly he had denied it. "Rose has a date tonight with Olly."

"Olly?" Ellie asked, her voice the same as Alec's had been when she mentioned the journalist. She appeared to be about to say something else, but bit her lip and glanced at her watch. "We have to leave soon if we want to get Tom to his game on time," she quickly explained, motioning for Rose to go get ready. "Are you coming?" she questioned Alec.

Shaking his head, Alec avoided Rose's gaze. "I better be going," he said, turning away as Ellie rushed out of the room at the sounds of Tom yelling about not knowing where his shoes were.

"Uhhh…bye," Rose muttered as she followed a few steps behind Alec on the way to the door. "I don't think I'm going on the date with Olly," Rose blurted out, causing Alec to spin around and look down at her.

"Why not?" Alec asked, as if he hadn't told her what a bad idea it was to go in the first place.

"I just thought…" Rose began, feeling rather silly with the way Alec was watching her. "That maybe we could do something tonight instead," she finished after a moment's pause. When Alec didn't respond in the slightest, Rose spoke up again, moving closer to him. If he was too dense to get what she was trying to see, she was just going to kiss him. "Like together on a," she said as her lips inched closer to his, suddenly stopping and stepping backwards when Alec interrupted her before she said the word date.

"I think you should go with Olly tonight, Tyler," Alec answered in a cold tone before turning and leaving, shutting the door in Rose's shocked face.

**Poor Rose...right?!**

**Please REVIEW! **

**Gabrielle**

**P.S. Yeah, the review button is right under this comment.**


	8. Conversations

**Not feeling like much of an inspiration, but I just had a ton of inspiration on how I'm going to continue this story! **

**Soo...enjoy and more stuff will happen when I post later!**

Conversations

Rose was still standing there in the doorway when Ellie came down with Fred in her arms, about ready to leave. She just kept on going over everything that had happened, wondering what she had done wrong. The last thing she had expected to happen was for him to reject her like that. She would be kidding herself if she said she didn't have an initial attraction to Alec when they first met. But apparently she had been wrong about that being a mutual feeling.

"Are you okay?" Ellie asked as she came up behind Rose. "We have to get going soon."

"I'm fine," Rose answered, blinking back the tears that threatened to overflow. "Can you?" Rose asked, swallowing hard so that her voice wouldn't break. "Can you not have Alec over when I'm here anymore?"

"What happened?" Ellie asked, setting Fred on the floor to toddle away.

"I thought that we were…" Rose whispered, not ending the sentence as she quickly wiped away the tear that had managed to trail down her face. "I guess I was wrong."

Setting her face into a neutral expression, Ellie spoke up again. "That arse," Ellie mumbled under her breath, watching Rose's face. She honestly didn't expect this from him. From when they first met Ellie was sure that Alec was rather interested in Rose. He seemed to perk up whenever she came into the room and she knew how often they talked when she wasn't around. Not to mention the stupid rumor about them snogging on the beach. Still, Ellie had guessed that over time they would either get together or both find someone else. From the way Rose was acting she did have feelings for him, only to have them crushed by Alec after they had spent the night together. She was sure going to have words with him about making Rose feel used when she saw him at work on Monday.

"I better get ready to go to the game," Rose interrupted Ellie's musings, plastering a fake smile on her face as she went up the stairs to get ready.

…

Rose would be lying if she said that she enjoyed spending her time watching young boys play soccer. She had never been one for sports, and the fact that practically everyone watching was intently studying a certain individual and rooting them on.

"Hi," came an unfamiliar voice behind her, causing Rose to spin her head around to see.

Hoping that her mouth wasn't hanging open, Rose thought of what to say. Why Beth Latimer would be over here conversing with her was a mystery. She had only seen the woman in passing around town, but had never felt like she had the right to talk to her. "Oh, hi," she said stupidly, wondering if she should stand up or stay where she was on the grass.

"Care to go on a walk?" Beth asked, her eyes sizing Rose up in a way that unnerved her. She supposed it was hard to trust people after what happened to her son and, because of that, she had to distrust everyone.

"Sure," Rose responded a little too excitedly, taking the awkward hesitation to get up and stand up. It surprised her how tiny Beth was. Rose wasn't exactly a hulking giant herself, but Beth appeared too young and fragile to have gone through so much.

Without a smile on her face, Beth beckoned for Rose to follow her down the ledge away from where the boys were playing soccer. It wasn't until they were quite a bit away that Beth spoke up, her voice surprisingly sweet. "I'm sorry we haven't met yet when you've been here for a few months."

"I know how busy life can be," Rose quickly responded, glancing over at the distant beach.

"You aren't here because of what happened, are you?" Beth asked, surprising Rose by how quickly she was speaking of the taboo subject. "Because a few months after the case was closed tourists were flocking here."

"I didn't even know," Rose continued, not looking over at Beth as she spoke. "I had been here a week before I even realized why I knew the town's name."

Noticing Beth studying her from the corners of her eyes, Rose looked straight ahead and waited for her to speak up. It unnerved her how uneasy this woman seemed to be around her. Still, she told herself it was expected and not to dwell on it too much. "I think I believe you," Beth finally said to break the silence.

"Thank you," Rose awkwardly said. Realizing perhaps she was to speak next, Rose spoke up again. "Why is it that you wanted to talk to me?"

"Chloe told me something," Beth said, fixing Rose with an intense stare. Rose was surprised Chloe hadn't just told her herself. After all, she did see her quite often since she worked at the inn and quite enjoyed bantering back and forth with the strong teenager that was very much like her when she was younger. Becca, who Rose would consider to be a good friend, always spoke highly of Chloe despite what happened.

Swallowing and pondering what it could be, Rose cleared her suddenly dry throat and spoke up. "Why didn't she want to tell me herself?"

"Wanted you to know how serious she was being," Beth answered with a pitying look on her face. "Said she's seen a few things…" Beth paused, seeming to consider how to continue. "Is there anyone who could have followed you from London, Rose?"

Eyes widening as Rose realized what she was alluding too, Rose's mind spun. She had practically forgotten about the threat she had received all those weeks ago. Being around Alec had made her feel safe. And now that it was obvious he didn't want to spend time with her, Rose suddenly felt very exposed. As if Jimmy Stone was watching her right now. "Why?" Rose managed to choke out.

"Noticed someone always walk past the doors of the inn whenever you stop by like they were following you," Beth answered as she slowed their brisk walking pace. "At first didn't think anything of it, but lately it's been different. Said that she saw him in the distance one morning when she was running when she was out with her boyfriend."

"What did he look like?" Rose breathlessly asked, knowing for sure that is something that Jimmy Stone would do in an attempt to get her back.

"Always had a hood on so she never got a look at his face," Beth answered. "I know it isn't much…but I am so paranoid now a days and couldn't let you continue on oblivious to it."

Nodding, Rose thought back to if anything else odd had happened. "I'm sorry," Rose mumbled, biting her lip. "I really need to go right now," she continued. "Thank you so much for telling me, Beth. Call me if Chloe tells you anything else," Rose finished, reaching into her purse and scribbling her number onto a spare piece of paper.

Barely waiting for Beth's response, Rose took off running in the opposite direction. She just couldn't stand in the same place any longer. She needed to run, to get her mind off what was crashing down on her. Everything that she should have been noticing seemed to be falling into place. Just last week flowers had been delivered unexpectedly to her. They were lilies, her favorite, with a single red Rose in the middle. The note had only said her name, so there was nothing to be learned from that. She had just stupidly assumed they were from Alec, not even pondering the fact that Jimmy Stone knew her favorite flowers as well. Another terrifying realization that was dawning on Rose was that her phone had been ringing more often than usual lately. Except it was always a number she didn't recognize, so she had never answered and always chalked it off as a sales call.

Gasping for breath as her eyes filled with tears, Rose finally stopped at the edge of the beach. She was being stupid, she knew, being out here alone after she had just realized that Jimmy Stone had been watching her. Still, she didn't see anyone around her, so plopped down on the wet sand, staring up at the grey sky. She just stayed there for what felt like hours, her mind working in overdrive as she figured out what to do. Obviously she should call Alec. After all, he was a detective and he knew everything that had happened thus far. She was positive he wouldn't treat her any differently than he would any of his other cases, but that was exactly what she feared. The one thing she didn't want right now was his impartiality.

So, with a sigh, Rose pulled out her cell phone and called the one person she could always trust: her mother.

"Hi, Mum," Rose said after her mother enthusiastically answered, not even bothering to hide the shakiness of her voice. "I need to talk to you."

"Why?" Jackie squawked out, obviously moving to a less crowded location so she could hear her daughter better. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"I think I should maybe come home," Rose answered honestly. She had briefly considered it in the past, but didn't really want to. After all, she was building a life her. She had made several close friends since moving here and felt comfortable in Broadchurch. Plus, she made good money from Ellie and even had a place to live.

"But you always go on about how much you love it there," Jackie interrupted, her voice morphing into the comforting tone it could only take on when talking to her daughter. "Do I need to come give that DI bloke a right smacker for hurting you?" Jackie interjected, her voice harshening when Rose sniffed back more tears. "Oh, I just knew he would break your heart. After what happened with Mickey I hoped that you would find someone to settle down with. You seemed so taken by him so quickly, it was always 'Alec this, Alec that,' every time I talked to you. I always told you to make sure the man knows your intentions early on and reciprocates since they are so often daft."

Pursing her lips, Rose wished she would have listened to her mum's advice earlier on. Still, there were more important matters that she needed to discuss. "That isn't it, though he is an arse," Rose answered, praying her mum wouldn't go on a rant about him yet again. "Have you heard anything about Jimmy?" she asked, deciding to cut right to the chase.

"No, just heard from the lady two doors down that he got out of jail a few months ago," Jackie answered, confused why her daughter was asking. "Haven't seen or heard anything about him since then. Why are you asking, Rose?"

"Something just reminded me of him," Rose explained in a strong voice. She had gotten what she wanted from her mother. To know that Jimmy was free and not in London. Thankfully he had the brain to stay away from Jackie Tyler. Still, she didn't want to worry her mother, so changed the topic. "So, how is it living full time with Howard?"

"Oh, it's all wonderful at first," Jackie began, continuing on a tangent about how often Howard ate in bed and left crumbs for quite some time as Rose added simple comments here and there.

When Rose knew for sure that Tom's football game would be done, she cut her mother off as she began to discuss Howard's barber's mother. "I love you and miss you, Mum," Rose said into the phone, wondering if she could visit home in the near future. "I promise to call soon."

"You always say that," Jackie responded. "Oh, I'll ask around about Jimmy and let you know," she added offhandedly. "I've got to go, cousin Mo just knocked over a cup of tea onto the new couch," Jackie huffed out, abruptly hanging up as she marched off to take care of business.

Putting her phone away, Rose quickly stood up and made her way back to the field where the boys were playing, failing to notice the barely visible man lurking at the top of the cliff watching her departure.

**Uh-oh...**

**Right now is a very bad time for Alec and Rose to not be talking. What do my lovely readers think about all this?! **

**Please let me know with a review and I will love you forever! (I love reviews)**

**Lots of hugs, **

**Gabrielle**


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